!965 dime etc aren't silver, then why do they look more silver than newer coins?

bornhunter

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Seriously. I have picked up 1965, 1966, 1967 dimes and quarters to check the date. They often look like they are pre-65 form a distance. Why? Do you ever have to double check and find a mid sixties coin? Just currious.
HH BH
 
dunno

It seems to me that they are more similar to pre 65 also.
Maybe the composition was a little different??
I secretly think that someday someone will discover that the 65's are part silver
 
Mostly I listen,.... and the 65s-68s Washingtons sure sound a bit like silver (grab some 65s-68s and try it)

It may have been a change over in the manufacturing process (ie:cheaper somehow)

Lets pool our $$ and get one tested to see what it's true composition is.
 
I have noticed the same! If I have a hand full of quarters from a beach hunt, the 65 - 67 always look better! Not as tarnished or corroded.
 
I once found a '65 dime six inches deep that came out like the day it was lost. No traces of copper on the edges and was the dull white color of silver. To this day i'll still swear that it was silver.
 
Mostly I listen,.... and the 65s-68s Washingtons sure sound a bit like silver (grab some 65s-68s and try it)

It may have been a change over in the manufacturing process (ie:cheaper somehow)

Lets pool our $$ and get one tested to see what it's true composition is.

Hey, you may be right. I like your entire thought process on the subject.

Has anyone scrapped gold with a person who owns one of those handheld machines that give a readout of metal content. I think it costs ~14 grand.

Well, if I'm real board someday I"ll do more research.
HH BH
 
1964 and before for dimes,quarters,half-dollars and dollars are 90% silver.
1965-1970 dimes,quarters,half-dollars and dollars are 40% silver.
wartime nickels 1942-1945 had 35% silver in them.
Eisenhower dollars with "S" mint mark from 1971-1976 had 40% silver as well.
I think silver dollars were 1935 and before to revise a little.
 
I haven't noticed it so much on the dimes, but definitely the quarters. I have some 65 and 66 quarters that came out looking brand new, and all of my other "clad" change from those hunts are completely destroyed.
 
I scooped a '65 quarter out of lake MI and the edge didn't look like a copper sandwich.

Dropped on the counter and it gave the junk clad thud.

Puzzling ain't it? :?:
 
I have wondered this many times too. I dug a '65 dime out of black earth and it was so shiny I thought it was silver till I saw the date. A few feet away I dug a 2000 dime out of the same dirt and it was corroded and had that red tinge to it which doesn't make sense. Found a '65 quarter recently and it was gleaming. I do not understand this. I may stop cashing them in just in case someone discovers they are part silver. They sure are shinier than the newer coins for some reason!
 
Your soil conditions must be better. Every single 1965 or newer coin all come out in horrible shape - usually much worse than newer clad especially if they've been there since the 60s or 70s. I can guarantee you that the vast majority do not contain any silver at all. Why would the government throw away silver for free? That just makes no sense.

I'd love to see the 1965 'silver' dime though. You got a picture?
 
I may have an answer

To this puzzle, time to start looking hard at those transition period quarters and dimes folks!! :yes:


Another reason to NEVER clean 90%: 1964-D Reverse of 1965 25-cent
There a millions of BU '64 D quarters out there, but I'm going to start checking all of the ones I come across for this variety :



1964-D.jpg


The eagle on the reverse of the 1964-D Washington, Reverse of 1965 quarter dollars displays crisp feather detail, a design change initiated to accommodate striking the Washington quarter dollar on a copper-nickel clad planchet.

I recently had the opportunity to examine a dozen examples of the 1964-D Washington, Reverse of 1965 quarter dollars. Also called Type C Reverse quarter dollars, these 90 percent silver coins display crisp feather detail on the eagle, a design change initiated to accommodate striking the Washington quarter dollar on a copper-nickel clad planchet. It is a popular variety, worth about $225 in Mint State 65 compared to less than $20 for standard reverse 1964-D quarter dollars.

No one knows precisely how many 1964-D Washington, Reverse of 1965 quarter dollars were struck. Having 12 coins together provided a rare opportunity to perform a die study. My colleagues and I were able to attribute the coins to two different reverse dies. This means that dies intended to strike copper-nickel clad coins were instead impressed with a D Mint mark and used to strike silver counterparts – and it happened more than once. It’s exciting to think this mishap occurred multiple times, providing some insight into the transition from silver to clad coinage.

In 1965 when phasing out silver coinage, the Treasury wanted to remove any possible impediment to the introduction of copper-nickel. One concern was that silver quarter dollars would be hoarded, so they produced an enormous number of them. The 1964-D quarter dollar has the highest mintage of any silver Washington quarter dollar – 704,135,528 pieces. But these coins were not all struck in 1964.

Coinage of silver quarter dollars was continued alongside production of copper-nickel clad quarter dollars until 1967 to meet demand. An enormous amount of clad quarter dollars were also produced in 1965, more than 1.8 billion of them. All U.S. coins dated 1965 through 1967 were struck without Mint marks although they were produced at all Mints. The use of Mint marks was temporarily suspended primarily to discourage collectors and speculators from hoarding new issues.

With such an extraordinary number of coins being produced during this period, it is hardly surprising that occasional mishaps like the 1964-D Washington, Reverse of 1965 quarter dollar occurred. Wrong planchet errors from this period also exist and are highly coveted.

For example, Heritage Auctions sold an About Uncirculated 50 90 percent silver 1965 Washington quarter dollar for $6,900 in a Jan. 7, 2006, sale. An extremely scarce counterpart, a 1964 quarter dollar struck on a copper-nickel clad planchet, is considered a six-figure rarity by error specialists.


To manage the transition, from 1965 to 1967, the Treasury and Federal Reserve Banks held all quarter dollars and dimes returned to them from circulation. By July 1967, they had developed a stockpile of 3 billion dimes and 1.3 billion quarter dollars and began using automated machines to sort them.

Copper-nickel clad coins were returned to circulation and silver coins were melted, yielding 212 million fine ounces of silver. Silver sales conducted from Aug. 4, 1967, through Nov. 10, 1970, which included the 212 million ounces of silver from melted dimes and quarter dollars, generated $147 million in profit for the U.S. government, according to the Treasury Department.
 
I've noticed this also! I pull out a 1966 quarter shiny pull out a 1970 corroded and black! They make a distinct sound. Watch them one day come out and say they're somewhat silver haha!
 
Once in a while I will dig a clad dime or quarter from 4-6" deep that comes out shiney. Then I read the date and get disappointed.

Most of the 65 dimes and quarters that I dig here in Illinois look as discolored and nasty as any other clad coin that I pull out of the ground.

I wonder if anyone has ever found a quarter or dime that was part of a proof set?

Do any of the proof set dimes and quarters minted 65 or later have any silver content?
 
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